All pumped up

Olive Krell, above, is soaked as League City firefighter Ben Spooner, below, goes into action.

Photos by Aaron Day

All ages dressed up and showed up to watch county heroes enjoying a little play time.

All pumped up

Firefighter Games a blast

By Aaron Day

COOLING off and heating things up, Galveston county firefighters gathered in Texas City on Saturday for the city’s first Firefighter Games. The event was held on Sixth Street by the Showboat Pavilion, after a parade along Ninth Street from city hall.
The parade started the event with a 5,000-meter fun run and walk that was open to the public and gave them a chance to beat the heat by running through streams of water from a fire truck.
The fun began at 7:00am and lasted all day, with plenty of barbecue provided by various teams that competed in the cook-off and drinks provided by the Marine Corps League.
After the parade, the firefighters were set on two intense team challenges – rounds of pumper races and a waterball competition. With the pumper races, the teams competed to determine who could set up their fire hoses fastest and strike a target.
In the other competition, teams sprayed a stream of water at a ball to move it closer to their opponents.
Hitchcock’s firefighters were the victorious department in both contests.
The department’s team two took first place in the pumper races, followed by Hitchcock team one and Texas City’s team Rusnack in third place.
San Leon fire department took second place in the waterball tournament, with Texas City coming in third.
The event benefited United Way Galveston County Mainland.